An Inside Look at the Tattoos in Disney’s Moana

The first heavily-tattooed Disney lead character comes alive in Moana. Maui, who is played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is covered in Maori tattoos which is an amazing step for the tattoo community on a whole. After years of parents shielding their precious children’s eyes from body art, freaking Disney puts an inked-up character in their biggest release of the year.

That Maui is tattooed is one thing, but that they got the tattoos right is another major boon to the tattoo industry. Often times tattoos go up on the big screen and they are just drawn by some graphic designer with no sense of history. Not in Moana, Disney used a Polynesian tattoo specialist to check all of the designs. According to The New York Times, “The Samoan tattoo artist Su’a Peter Sulu’ape, a sixth-generation master tattooist, checked every mark and pattern; fishermen in Fiji helped with the film’s boats and ropes. ‘We would not lock a design until we had someone’s eyes on it,’ [the producer] said.”